Shilpa Antony

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All about my mother

I love my mother because she is really unique, sweet, simple and the most loving person that one can find in this world.

She loves me more and more, no matter what I do.

Owing to my grandmother’s death, my mother was married off when she was 18, and then I was born when she turned 21.

She always said, that she never liked me when she saw my face for the first time, since I was the person who was responsible for all the stretch marks and sutures on her tummy.

She was always scared to hold me because she thought that I was so small that I would slip right through her hand.

From the time I remember, she used to go to the University every day and come back in the evening bus.

I would climb on the gate looking for her. She used to get me Frooti and Banana chips on the way back from East Fort.

For her by then I was more of a friend than a daughter and it was the same for me too. She used to share all her troubles, anxieties and hopes with me. Though I did not understand most of it then, it makes a lot of sense to me now.

When my grandfather was not at home we always played in the rain and finally I would end up sick which led to the removing of my tonsils when I was 6.

At the age of 8 I got my own bicycle in which I tried going to school by. I still remember my mom waiting nervously on the road looking for me, waiting for me to return.

When I was 9 she broke her leg on my birthday. On that same day, my grandfather passed away due to a heart attack. She was bedridden and hence couldn’t go for the funeral.

Fr Charlse who went to help my Mommy grabbed my birthday gifts and colour chalks from the road which I had asked for.

That was the first time I saw someone in the hospital with broken bones and I thought that she would definitely die and I cried for days. Mom had a huge plaster on her leg for 6 months and she feared that bed bugs would lay eyes on them because somebody had said so.

She always came to school in the afternoon to feed me and all the children would later make fun. She was the one who completed my notes post the lunch session, taking the books of my classmates.

One time, for perhaps the first time when we did not get tickets for a movie, I was sad all night. The next day she came to my school much to my surprise and informed my teacher, that my paternal grandfather had passed away and then took me for the same movie which we had had no luck with earlier.

One day she came home after her German class and told me that she saw a toy for 500 rupees. Though I had not seen the toy, I said that I wanted it and she sold her German book that she had got as a gift to buy me that toy.

She worked all her life to send me to the best school in Dubai, sent me to the best tuitions, bought me branded clothes, the best food ,everything that she did for me was the best.

There were never ending fights and arguments with her but then everything would end in a day’s time.

We had big plans for my wedding which we had been planning for since the time I realized that I had a memory, but most of it did not work out as I met Joe and got married in a month’s time.

But the only problem was that I was always open with her and she gets involved in unnecessary situations and gets me into trouble.

For Example, Once there was a rumour that my 12th grade class teacher was pregnant which I happened to tell her. She congratulated her for the next open house which got me into serious trouble.

The second instance I remember was when one of my classmates during my first year in the University poured ink on my hair right after a haircut. I told this incident to my mother during the final year of college. She brought this topic up while having a casual conversation with the HOD. The HOD raised it as major issue where the student was almost about to get suspended.

Mom was never a social person. She spent most of her time at home reading books and praying. She even had her own library in our Dubai house and in our native place. I was her all time partner in crime. We have done so many mischievous activities that I can neither write nor even tell anyone. Dad was like a school teacher and we were like his students trying not to get caught.

Towards the end she even left the job as the CFO of a group of companies and flew down to stay with me near the university.

Honestly speaking, I think she never wanted me to marry and go far away, neither did I want that. But then I guess this is life. But our friendship will be till death and beyond and I cannot love anyone like how I love my mother.

We even have the same close knit friend’s circles since the time I opened my eyes. They are the people whom I hold close to my heart and their opinions matter to me. They are my real family.